Loveless
by Eternal Nocturne
Summary: She thought what she did was right. She tossed him away, threw him to the side as if nothing - years later, she finds herself locked in a bond with no love, so she flees and tries to find him amidst a hopeless world. Oneshot, Zelda x Link.


_**A/N: Might or might not be sad. Your choice! ;)**_

_**DISCLAIMER: "The Legend of Zelda" and all rights, including the copyrights of the games, scenario, music and program, reserved by Nintendo. TM and (r) are trademarks of Nintendo. All rights reserved.**_

_**-Loveless-**_

* * *

><p>Today, she walks with the utmost grace, and the eyes around the room behold her as if she was the very epitome of elegance. Her traditional white satin dress drags along the marble floor of the grand temple, and in her hands she holds a bouquet of blue roses. Tender sunlight beams down from the stained glass windows, but she never stops to gaze in awe of the rainbow of colors cast by these lights.<p>

Today was marked by celebrations and fanfare, by wreaths of flowers and joyous choruses. The Temple of Time becomes more than just a sacred ground used for holding the Master Sword; it becomes a place where the Goddesses' watchful eyes set themselves. The people of Hyrule rejoice, for their beloved princess would finally take her title as the rightful ruler of her kingdom, and by her side would be the man who has promised to bring forth an heir.

Today, despite the bright smiles of happiness on the commonfolk's faces, Queen Zelda Nohansen Hyrule the XII vows never to return to this land she has called home since the earliest of her days. Not until she finds who she is looking for.

Two years ago, she chased him away. She watched as his heart broke in two, shattered into dust like glass—and despite all the pain she felt, she still willed herself to watch him ride away on his mare out into a world unknown, knowing that he would experience a new life without a heart to cherish.

She thought it was for the best.

He was of common blood, and the nobles would look upon him like grime on a piece of porcelain. She knew above all else that their love was not fated, for she descended from the purest of royalty while he had never even set eyes on the man who sired him. As she neared her eighteenth birthday, she knew she had to tell him what he deserved to know. She had broken all ties with him and cast him away like a used doll, all while upholding her undying love for him in secret. Before he left, she had slipped her most precious necklace into his pocket, hoping that it could serve as a memoir to him of her.

Now she walks an empty castle corridor, missing the warmth of her beloved, the feel of his touch, the scent of his hair. His courageous blue eyes haunt her in her sleep, and sometimes she finds herself calling out his name in the depth of the night, awakening all who hear her thoughtless wails. The queen remembers how his smile would always make her heart soar and how his voice—smooth like the waves of the sea—would always send pleasant shivers down her spine.

Then she thinks about him, her new husband. His smiles always come with a slight glint of lust in his dark eyes, and whenever he opens his mouth to speak, she takes every chance to dismiss herself from his presence. Perhaps this was the Goddesses' way of telling her that she was wrong. She was wrong, and she had to fix it.

She is reluctant to leave, but she reasons to herself that her country is doomed with or without her attendance within its boundaries—for her marriage to this madman was her father's doing, and so her father's country shall suffer in its rightful place. At night, she glides into her room and gathers a modest amount of belongings before setting off, stopping only once at her nursemaid's room to whisper a nearly voiceless goodbye. With the moon as her guide, she deems herself free. No longer is she Queen Zelda—she is now simply "Zelda," a woman whose spirit is as unbridled as the wind and whose heart yearns for its lost half.

Within weeks, the rumors catch up to her. She has travelled far across the boundless plains of Din's earth, but she knew how quickly word of mouth could travel. They call her a coward, a foolish girl whose only intention was to please herself. But she knows better, and the ex-queen sets off without hesitation to the next city, asking everyone she could find about the location of her true lover. Nobody suspects her as the famous runaway monarch, as her experience with disguises yielded a façade no soul could ever hope to see through. She demotes herself from a jeweled, elegant dress to clothes of humble means, and her skill of magic helps her to mask her eye color.

Eventually, a new rumor surfaces. She was called "the woman looking for a link," and as she rests on her makeshift, threadbare bed at night, she can't help but laugh a deep, bitter laugh. She thinks to herself while she caresses her empty stomach, _How will I be able to find him if nobody can even get his name right?_

But she perseveres. She feels that he is still out there, roaming the world on his mare, seeing new sights that she so wished she could experience with him as well. She imagines them under a moonlit sky, the stars shedding grand light upon Farore's grasses as they lay in a field, unrestrained by the duties of a ruler and the expectations of a legendary hero. She looks into his eyes, and she smiles, and when her fantasy is over she sits upright from her dirty camp and faces the world with a newfound courage. For she believed that when she finds him, her fantasies will become a reality.

Three years pass and the fallen monarch sits on the eaves of an abandoned temple, staring at her rough palms and her damaged fingernails. Her golden hair drops below her shoulders, and she absentmindedly sends a single finger to twirl it as she moves her gaze to the heavens above. She voicelessly asks her Goddesses, _Is this the fate you have destined me?_

She loses faith, and in the back of her mind, a new voice arises. Its name is Hopelessness, and at first she rejects its demeaning wisdom, but as the days grew colder and her heart more bitter, she begins to listen to its words. Perhaps her beloved had long found a new woman and had already started a family with her. Perhaps he was happy the way his life was and never wanted to set eyes on the ex-queen ever again, for if he did, he knew his heart would shatter in two once more, and that was a pain he never wanted to return to. Or perhaps he had taken his life long ago, unable to live as a man with no heart.

Winter comes and she finally feels the sting of both the ice and the realities of her lost love, and the voice of Hopelessness sings a song of victory as it flees her mind, dancing off into the world in search of its new victim. She is left at the foot of a great tree whose leaves have long cast away, and all that remained was a husk of the splendor it once was, just like her heart. She drapes a thin red cover over her head, trying to shield herself from the onslaught of snow, but she knows that she was being eaten away by two forms of ice; one from the outside and one within her very being. So she throws off the cover and lets it fly in the frost-wind, tears streaking her face as she thinks about what a fool she had been and how she could have been sitting in her castle right at this moment, sipping a cup of cocoa and enjoying freshly-cut pineapple with her King while watching her three children play a game of chase with each other around the fireplace.

Then the thought shatters as she remembers how selfish and evil he was and that she would have probably taken her own life long before she gifted him with three children. She looks up into the sky, crying, and she realizes that there was no way out for her; both of the paths she was offered had been laced with poison.

And so the ex-Queen Zelda Nohansen Hyrule the XII sits at the foot of the tree that marks the beginning of a dead forest, her hair covered in the frosts of winter and her eyes still streaming with the strength of a waterfall. She knows that she will die out here, but it could matter less for a woman who no longer carried a heart.

On a ledge that borders the outskirts of this dead forest, a man with courageous blue eyes walks forth to the brink of the earth and watches a woman weep upon a great tree. He eyes her golden, shaggy hair, and it reminds him of _her_; as he looks back at the woman, he can't help but wonder just why she looked so familiar. But he knows better than to meddle in the affairs of others, so he steps away from the edge and continues on his way. He reaches into his pocket to pull out a necklace he'd long kept, and as he walks, he takes the time to ponder when he'd ever set eyes on his angel again.

He'd been waiting on her all this time, after all.

~x~X~x~

_**A/N: I hope you enjoyed it. I would appreciate a review if you have the time! ^_^**_

_**-**__**Eternal Nocturne**__**-**_

_**Loveless – Completed April 4, 2012**_


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